Wires forming a cable are usually wound very tightly together making it exceedingly difficult to penetrate the outer layers of the cable to get to the inner layers. This, coupled with the typical lengthiness of a cable, makes repair of damaged cables a challenge, as it is not practical or economical to unwind a considerable length of cable just to repair a portion of the cable.
Currently, when a cable is damaged, either the cable is cut into two at the damaged portion so that repair work can be performed or the damaged portion of the cable is cut away. Once the repair work is done or the damaged portion removed, the cut ends of the cable are spliced back together.
However, the overall performance of a spliced cable is not as good as before and in some instances, a spliced cable may even become unworkable and end up having to be junked.
Due to similar constraints, it is also impossible to perform a proper visual inspection of the inner layers of a cable for preventive maintenance.
Cable repairs also require very qualified persons with many years of experience and there are fewer and fewer such persons around nowadays.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable, therefore, to have an apparatus that is able to selectively open up a portion of a cable.